Take One for the Team
by Lexxicon
Summary: It's a dangerous decision to make on her own.


**_Disclaimer:_** All characters are the intellectual property of Dick Wolf and company. Well, okay, only two of them are. Can you guess which two?

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"Deputy Brenner, I want you to head right, I'll take left, and Liv, you go up the center," Elliot whispered instructions as the three of them stood at the threshold of the doorway their perp had just gone through. The other two nodded their understanding. "I'll go in first," Elliot continued, "then Brenner, then Olivia."

As Elliot passed Olivia to head into the room, she put a reassuring hand on his back as his left hand patted her shoulder. Yep, just another routine pursuit.

Elliot passed through the doorway and immediately turned left, gun poised for defense. Brenner entered a second later, facing opposite Elliot, and Liv a beat after that, facing forward from the door. They all went in their respective directions, keeping low and taking in every detail of the room, watching for any sign of movement that would give away the suspect.

None of them encountered anything—or anyone—until Olivia reached the back of the room, beating the guys because of the shorter distance going directly back made. She reached the end of the line of cubicles when she suddenly found herself rammed up against the wall, linebacker style, by the guy they were pursuing.

The air was torn from her lungs, but that was not the dominating sensation Olivia felt. Gregory Temple gave the knife one more upward thrust before yanking it back out of her abdomen and taking off running towards the doorway. It was over before she had fully registered what had happened. All she understood was the pain as she doubled over, arms wrapped tightly around her stomach.

Meanwhile, Elliot and Brenner had both heard the commotion and were now appearing from either side.

"Where'd he go?" Brenner asked urgently.

"Back out the door," Liv managed to gasp out. Brenner ran back in that direction, gun trained.

Elliot had stayed back, laying his hand on his partner's back and crouching to address her. "Liv, you okay?"

Realizing Elliot hadn't seen the blood yet, Olivia made a split-second decision. "I'm fine, just go help the deputy."

Trusting Olivia's judgement on her own well-being, Elliot gave her back a quick pat and ran after Deputy Brenner.

When she was sure they had gone, Olivia let herself slide down the wall. She immediately knew that his knife had punctured a lung at the very least, as she coughed up copious amounts of blood that she'd been holding back for Elliot's sake. They had been after this perp for weeks, and she wasn't gonna let her partner's worry for her get in the way of this collar, not when they were so close.

Elliot rounded a corner and was greeted by the sight of Deputy Brenner with a long bloody knife at his throat and Gregory Temple behind, staring menacingly at Elliot.

"I'm walking out of here with the young deputy, and nobody's gonna give me any trouble, or else I cut his throat."

But Brenner's partner would have none of that. Deputy Wetzel had snuck in behind Temple, and in one clean shot, it was over.

Wetzel took note of all the blood and checked out his partner. "Hey, Brenner, where are you cut?"

"I'm not. That blood ain't mine."

Realization dawned on Elliot, and he barreled through the officers who had begun to gather around the scene.

"Liv!" Elliot yelled as he came to the room and set land-speed records to get to the end of the cubicles, where his partner was slumped against the wall. He fumbled with the walkie and managed to get it up to call officer down.

"Olivia, c'mon. You gotta stay with me," Elliot said desperately. "Come_on_, Liv! Please!"

The minute and a half it took the paramedics to get to Olivia felt like an hour to Elliot, as he tried in vain to get her to wake up. He let them take over holding pressure on the gash, opting instead for her hand. He rode along in the ambulance and had to be reminded by the ER doctors that he would not be allowed past the waiting room doors.

One of the waiting room attendents said, "Sir, can you fill out her paperwork?"

Elliot nodded and reached for a clipboard with the necessary forms, but stopped when he saw that his hands were covered in her blood.

"Uh, is there somewhere I can…?" Elliot started to ask. The nurse pointed to the bathroom and Elliot went to clean up.

Fourty-seven hours later, Olivia was lying in a hospital bed stitched up and drugged. The doctors had told Elliot that she would be fine, but he wasn't gonna believe it until he saw those chocolate eyes staring back at him.

When she woke up and noticed him sitting by her bed, she immediately averted her gaze. He had intended to keep the disappointment out of his expression, but it had lingered, even with the dominating relief. If she had been left alone a few more minutes—bleeding like that, spleen utterly mutilated, lung torn, and rib fractures to boot—she would have died. Not could have—_would_ have.

"Olivia, look at me," he said, perhaps a little too demandingly.

She glanced back up at him, tears blurring her vision and guilt weighing down her brow. She knew that lying to him about her condition was a major betrayal of his trust.

Elliot saw that she understood, and the tears running down her cheeks convinced him to put aside lecturing her for now. Instead, he leaned forward and brushed a light kiss across her forehead and said, "I love you, partner."

Olivia sighed with relief. She knew that the talk would come later, but she also knew that he had already mostly forgiven her. This knowledge brought a weak smile to her face, and she nodded her understanding.

With the burden of guilt considerably lessened, Olivia fell into a more natural sleep, or as natural as is possible with drugs coursing through your system. She felt nothing except a warm lingering sensation on her brow and Elliot's hand cradling her own, letting her know that he'd still be there when she woke up.

**_END_**

Yeah, yeah, sap-fest at the end. Review anyway. Pretty please with Elliot on top?


End file.
